Tiscali rejects BPI request to turn over file sharers

Yesterday, we reported that the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) had asked the Internet service providers Tiscali and Cable & Wireless to suspend 59 accounts used for illegal file sharing. Today, it has emerged that Tiscali have refused to roll over and do whatever they are told. The company has said that it will not close any accounts without more evidence of wrongdoing from the BPI, and that it will not hand over any personal details of customers to the BPI without a court order.

The BPI remains confident however that they will get the necessary court order to force Tiscali's hand; it is still possible that the BPI could be successful in getting Tiscali to turn over the customer names using the British legal system - a ruling in March mandated that ISPs must hand over information on individuals suspected of uploading large numbers of illegal files onto various P2P services.

"The first thing is that they've already moved to suspend one account. Yes, they wanted more evidence - we could challenge this in court, but we're happy to provide it. We're pleased they are willing to cooperate," Matt Phillips, spokesman for the BPI, told the Register.

"ISPs have had lots of time to introduce their own measures to combat filesharing, but these are obviously insufficient," he went on. "It was not a legal threat, we just decided to make an open plea for cooperation."
The outcome of this is likely to affect the way bodies like the BPI pursue suspected copyright infringement via P2P in the UK, so stay tuned.